The cheapest live TV streamer heads to Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV

Philo, a fledgling skinny-bundle TV streaming service, is taking two steps closer to its big-league competitors. The live-TV streaming company will work on Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV devices this summer, CEO Andrew McCollum said in an interview last week. An Android mobile app is next on the roadmap. When Philo launched in November, it worked on Roku, Apple mobile devices and by casting from a Chrome browser on your computer through Chromecast or any other TV-connected Google Cast, which is relatively limited compared with competitors. More importantly, you’ll be able to do more with your Philo account. The company is unlocking the streaming apps for the TV networks included in a customer’s subscription. That means if you pay for Philo’s $16-a-month bundle of cable channels, you’ll be able to access the paywalled apps for channels like AMC, Nickelodeon, Discovery Channel and History. (Insiders call this TV Everywhere authentication.) All of Philo’s networks are participating except for OWN, which is coming soon. Philo is the latest in a parade of virtual TV services that have emerged in the last three years, and is the most niche. Most of its competitors are backed by tech Goliaths like AT&T’s DirecTV Now, Google’s YouTube TV, Dish’s Sling TV or Sony’s PlayStation Vue, as a way for those companies to establish their turf as television viewers migrate from traditional providers like cable to digital ones. But — kind of like a minor-league Hulu, which is owned by Disney, Fox, Comcast and Time Warner — Philo is… [Read full story]